Environmental Health and Safety

Safety Shoutout

This month's Safety Shoutout goes to Rafael Alvarez! Rafael Alvarez is the Fleet Manager and is part of the Office of Business Services. As the Fleet Manager, he is responsible for a great team of individuals that maintain and fix all FIU vehicles. He ensures his team performs their work responsibly and correctly, but even more so, that they are safe in doing their jobs. Ultimately, FIU employees can be rest assured they are using safe vehicles. More notably, Rafael is being highlighted for his ingenuity. He is working on an initiative to perform annual inspections of all equipment listed as an asset on the university’s vehicle services asset list. While there is already a preventive maintenance pattern for FIU assets, this initiative will ensure a more detailed look into the assets on an annual basis, and with the help of specialized manufacturer technicians and representatives. Rafael works closely with Transdev, FIU’s contracted vehicle maintenance company, to add and track assets to the annual inspection routine. While the project started this year, it is already proving successful. One asset, a 2016 Altec Man Lift, was scheduled for an inspection with Altec due to its potential liability. During that inspection, they found damage to the rotary joint assembly. If there was continued use of the equipment with the damaged joint assembly, it could have led to serious injuries, and even fatalities. The unit was taken off operations, equipment department owners were notified, and repairs are scheduled. Rafael’s forward thinking to update equipment inspections on a scheduled annual basis will result in increased safety measures and risk reduction to FIU employees, and long-term cost savings to departments. To learn more about Rafael Alvarez and the Office of Business Services, click the "Rafael Alvarez" button. To nominate someone for a Safety Shoutout, click the "Nominate" button.